Three Star held despite Sahukhala's 50th league goal

KATHMANDU, June 4: Striker Santosh Sahukhala´s 50th league goal helped Nabil Three Star Club only to equalize their match against relegation battlers Boys Union Club on Friday as the match ended in a 1-1 draw in the Martyrs Memorial San Miguel A Division League Football at the Dasharath Stadium.

Earlier, New Road Team (NRT) closed the gap on leaders Nepal Police Club with a 3-1 comeback victory over Ranipokhari Corner Team (RCT).

With three matches to go, NRT are in second place with 40 points and two points behind Police who have a match advantage over the former. RCT remained unchanged in eighth place with 21 points. Three Star retained third position with 35 points while Boys Union are just above the relegation line with 15 points in the 12-team contest.

Resham Rana put Boys Union ahead in the 60th minute as he chipped over an inattentive goalie Kiran Chemjong. But Sahukhala leveled the scoring 17th minutes later to secure a point.

The other players to cross the 50 league-goal milestone after 1990 are Surendra Tamang of Three Star, Ramesh Budhathoki of Nepal Police and Basanta Thapa of Manang Marshyangdi Club.

Appearing for the fifth season in the domestic league, top scorer Sahukhala, 23, scored his 18th league goal in the current season. Making his debut from Three Star in 2003, he scored his first goal in their 3-2 victory over Sankata.

Sahukhala who had hoped to score at least one goal to reach the milestone of 50th league goal, however, expressed dissatisfaction over the draw against Boys Union. “I am upset with the results today as my team could not win with my 50th goal,” Sahukhala said.

Sahukhala will now aim to score 50 more goals. “Now my target is to reach 100 goals. None of the Nepali players have reached 100 goals so far and my effort will be to be the first player to score 100 goals in the domestic league ,” he said.

Enrolled with Three Star from 2003-05, Sahukhala scored 21 goals, and in 2006 he scored 11 goals for APF before rejoining Three Star.

In a drab show on Friday, both teams could not make frequent post attacks. In the 40th minute Rupesh Chhetri of Boys Union squandered a goal scoring chance when his strike from close range in an open net skied above the bar in fallen goalie Kiran Chemjong´s rebounder off Raju Rai´s shot while the goalie was still to recover.

Three Star coach Bal Gopal Maharjan said that his side has crashed out from the title race following the draw. Citing his side´s poor performance, Maharjan said, “Absence of Castory D Mumbara and long break were the reasons for the poor show.”

Boys Union coach Kumar Katuwal said that he was satisfied with the performance and results. “We were under pressure to earn points and avoid relegation. However, we still need to work hard to avert relegation.”

In another match, substitute Subash Rai of NRT canceled RCT´s 46th minute lead while Jeevan Sinkeman and Nirajan Rayamajhi added one each to ensure the team´s victory.

Dipak Rai made a brilliant display to score his ninth goal of the season from a tight angle in a pass by Kamal Karki. But Gurung who replaced Khum Gurung in the 55th minute scored in a one-on-one 11 minutes after his entry.

Sinkeman made a quick attempt from close range taking advantage of the ball controlled by opponent defender Sulav Jung Rana to double the tally. Likewise, Rayamajhi directed the ball toward the post in a pass by Jeetan Karki as the opponent goalie and defender collided.

After the match, NRT coach Diken Suwal insisted that they were still hopeful of the title.